


The First Color I see is You

by Whiskers_Da_Catfoosh



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Skephalo-Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Blood, Fluff, Inspired by The Giver, Kissing, M/M, Maybe slight homophobia?, Mention of abuse, Mentions of Panic Attacks, No Gore, No Smut, Runaway Skeppy, Strangers to Lovers, dystopian au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:00:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28573416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whiskers_Da_Catfoosh/pseuds/Whiskers_Da_Catfoosh
Summary: Darryl lives in a Utopia. Everything is perfect here, but as he starts meeting with a mysterious boy from the bushes, his town slowly starts to take its true form right in front of his eyes.
Relationships: Skephalo-Relationship, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschoch
Comments: 20
Kudos: 55





	1. Bush Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Heyheyhey! Welcome to my first fic! Lets hope I can actually finish this lmao

It was rise and shine for town 14, the name of a young boy named Darryl Noveschoch’s facilitated living quarters. Everything was perfect here, every boy and every girl in a set routine for the day, every parent out working from the crack of dawn until the lights of night are turned on. Some people called them little bugs flying in the night, too far for anyone to reach, Darryl personally thought they were giant lights millions and billions of miles away from them. Maybe they were other towns just like town 14, and maybe the other towns could see their lights from that far away. But enough about what the teachers taught to be ‘stars’, Darryl was 5 minutes late to breakfast, in which when he came down from his bedroom to find his parents worried sick that their son had not shown up to their morning routine. 

“Hi mom, hi dad! Sorry I’m late!” Darryl had not even gotten dressed yet, which was proper manners before eating. He had completely forgotten about today. 

“Darryl? Why are you still in your night clothing? Please change quickly and come back down for your medication and breakfast.” His mother was strict, only saying what she needed to to Darryl. That’s what it was like for most parents, and for everyone in town 14. This town wasn’t perfect, Darryl realized that long ago. He changed into his school attire, a red leather vest over a long sleeved, white silk button down shirt neatly tucked under black jeans. This is what everyone wore here, red. It was the only color Darryl knew, besides white and black, which were shades. It’s the only color the town could see as well, if something wasn’t red, it would either be black, white, or something in between. Grey, they call it? He had only heard a few people use the word, ‘grey’, before, but that word stuck to his mind. Back to what was imperfect about the town, though. Darryl realized it long ago. Most children are ok, and don’t need extra medication with their meals, but for the kids who ‘feel extra’, as the council called it, they would be given extra doses of medication to dull out every feeling that ever existed. Darryl always felt ‘extra’, but he never told anybody about these feelings of his. He felt a lot, which he knew no one else understood, not even his closest friends. He couldn’t exactly describe it, but when people were on the medication, they only said things they needed to say, no emotion tied with their words. Darryl tried his best to act like everyone else, but he had been close to letting his feelings out a couple of times. He did not like the medication, he was… apprehensive? Uncertain? No no no… afraid. He was afraid of the medication. He liked his feelings, they made him feel special, and to take that away, Darryl wouldn’t have a personality at all. Well, not AT all, he would still have his quirks, but it would still suck to not be able to feel much to anything at all. Darryl liked feeling happy, he liked feeling proud and he liked to feel extra, he’ll even admit that he would rather be sad and depressed rather than not feel anything at all. 

Darryl came downstairs dressed and ready for the day, and he smiled at his mom, in which he knew she wouldn’t smile back. Darryl quickly straightened his face and took his medication, washing it down with water and beginning to munch down on his meal. His mother was worried about the gesture her son gave her a second ago.

“Do you think we need to up your dosage, Darryl? You’re getting big now, almost an adult. You surely cannot stay with only 2 pills for 3 years straight.” Darryl sighed silently, any real show of emotion now would only prove her case more.

“I think I am ok, mother” He said in a monotone voice, trying not to begin begging. “I feel euphoric, just as always.” Darryl’s mother nodded, falling for the emotionless trick he always puts up. Darryl felt his emotions beginning to dwindle, but it will at least keep him calm for the day, he hoped it would, at least.

The boy’s black shoes slapped the grey pavement; his medication was wearing off, and Darryl began to feel sleepy. His mother worked in the nursery, with all of the infants. School had ended a while ago for him, and after school Darryl loved to spend his time in the public library. He read so often his mother often found him after curfew there, buried in a book. This day was different, Darryl decided. He’d only been in the nursery a couple of times, but Darryl had a special fondness for babies. They showed lots of emotion. They laughed, they cried, they played, and did all sorts of stuff his friends never really did. He wanted to take care of babies when he got older, it would be a dream come true. Darryl just didn’t know if he could handle having to let the babies go after 6 months in the nursery, he would probably get too attached. Darryl opened the front door to the large, white building. A woman named Mrs. Maudy was at the front desk, and looked up to see a tall, skinny young boy entering without permission. 

“Halt! Anyone but volunteers and workers beyond this point!” her voice was shrill, and it hurt Darryl’s ears.

“I am.. I am Darryl Noveschoch, son of Mrs. Noveschoch..?” He spoke in a very quiet and timid tone, one arm reached over his face, while the other placed in front of his chest. Mrs. Maudy’s entire persona then changed with a flick of a finger.

“Ooohh, I am so sorry Mr. Noveschoch! Come right in! Your mother is working in room 371 with the 0-1 month old children. Take the elevator to your right and set it to floor 3, you should find it from there.” Darryl nodded politely, forcing his arms into a position at his sides, though he wanted to wrap them around his body protectively. He pressed the elevator button and watched as the cold metal doors encased him in the moving box, and Darryl’s eyes began to slightly lose focus behind his glasses. His breath began to get a little shaky as well, but nothing too extreme for anyone to care. He exited the elevator quickly and made it to room 371, where his mother was tending to a particular infant who could not stop crying. Infants were very peaceful, and Darryl often begged his mother to get one, but the babies had to be a minimum of 6 months before a family could take them home. Darryl wanted to take one from the cubes they were contained in, but that was strictly forbidden, and one could get severely punished if they took a baby. Darryl’s mother finally noticed him, and put a finger over mouth to signal to be quiet. Darryl nodded, and carefully tiptoed over to his mother.

“How are the infants today?” He whispered, but as he did, the one his mother was holding began to sob, and some of the other infants stirred in their slumber. HIs mother’s sockets were grey, well, at least greyer than the rest of her grey skin. 

“Darryl, didn’t I tell you to be quiet??” She hissed at him, causing the baby to become even more disruptive. With complete instinct, Darryl took the baby from his mother and began rocking it, whistling soft tunes into the air to help the baby calm down. It worked like a charm, and Darryl’s mother stood there in disbelief and shock that Darryl had managed to put to sleep the child she had tried to at least calm for the past hour. Darryl then looked at her, a small blush appearing on his face as he stopped whistling.

“Oh… uh, sorry about that, I just thought I should have a shot? It seemed to have worked…” They both looked at the baby, who was now fast asleep. The cube to the baby read ‘Sam-Male 6 weeks’, with a yellow circle sticker placed in the top right corner. That circle meant that the baby was troublesome, and may not be able to move into the 2-4 month section in time. 

“You seem to do well with infants, I’ll have this reported to the council immediately, maybe they can give you a volunteer pass to help your dear tired mother out.” She smiled back at him. Smiling was rare from Darryl’s mother, well, just as it was rare from anyone here in Town 14. He basked in the warm approval, though, and gently laid the baby back in his glass cube. “Thank you Darryl for the help. Why don’t you run along home now; I will be home in approximately one hour.” Darryl nodded at this and left without a word, striding through the white hallways, down the elevator, and out of the building. The sun had just begun to start setting, but Darryl particularly didn’t want to go home. Instead, he headed towards the outskirts of the town, pulling a blank notebook out of his backpack and opening it up, twirling a black ink pen around in his fingers. He recorded what he had done today and how it had made him feel, putting everything into remarkable detail that no other person in this town could do. As Darryl reached the farthest outskirts of the town, he sat down on a grey rock, next to some equally grey trees. He wasn’t allowed to go into the ‘forest’, as he would never come out; rumors would say, so he just sat on a large rock on the edge of the brush. He kept on writing and doodling in the notebook, when a small rustle of the brush caught him off guard. He jumped up, holding the notebook to his chest almost like a shield of some sorts. The bushes began to rumble again, a bigger creature stalking in the brush. Darryl was prey, he knew it. If he wasn’t so scared stiff, he would have ran straight home, but with a mix of curiosity and terror, he stayed put, the grey notebook the only thing standing in between the thing and him. With a sudden push, a dark skinned creature peered out of the bushes. It looked hurt and ill. Darryl didn’t take much time to examine it and screeched.

“WHO ARE YOU?? WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?!” The creature began to panic, fully revealing itself from the bushes and covering Darryl’s mouth with the sleeve of its grimy and dirty sweater. 

“Hush! The whole town is going to be after me if you don’t shut the hell up, man! I’m trying to be quiet!” the thing whisper-yelled into Darryl’s ear, small droplets of saliva hitting the side of his face as he tried to calm down enough to talk to the strikingly human monster. He was petrified, and when he opened his mouth to ask this mysterious bush creature some questions, nothing came out. The bush creature could tell he was too terrified to talk, so it started up on its own. 

“Look, man, I’m sorry I scared you. I’ve just been looking for any sort of food around here. Ran away from my home around a month ago and haven’t seen any civilization since. This is the first town I’ve seen in a while, and I was wondering if you could at least give me some food?”

Rule #7 of Town 14: Never come into contact with monsters of the outside. If one happens to appear, report it to the council, and it will be handled immediately.

“I...I..” Darryl stuttered. How could this monster talk? Why did it look so… Human? Darryl had so many questions that he needed answers to, or maybe he should just report this… thing.. to the council? Darryl could sense that the monster’s eyes had softened to him as it sat patiently on the rock Darryl had sat on just moments before. 

“Take your time, I’ll be here all day-” The monster spoke in fluent English, and as Darryl got a closer look, he could tell that this thing had darker skin than him, and darker eyes. Darryl’s eyes were a lighter grey, while it had almost black eyes. The monster’s hair was black, too, puffed up neatly above its head as if it valued that hair more than anything else on its body. It wore a puffy sweater as well… Human clothes.. But the sweater had a tint of another color he couldn’t quite tell from. It was the softest shade of color, like 99% grey and the 1% this mysterious color he knew nothing about. It wasn’t red, that’s for sure. In fact, it looked quite the opposite of red. This was the first other color he had seen in his entire life. The monster was still waiting patiently on the rock, and Darryl slowly rubbed his temples, as he had held his breath in the entire time and was now light-headed. Now Darryl had to decide quickly. Food, or report? He looked up at the scarily human like monster.

“Wh… What are you..?” He shakily asked, the monster seemed to chuckle at the question, which made Darryl’s poor heart skip a beat. The laugh was so… warm. It was raspy, yes, but warm.. Darryl didn’t quite know how to describe it.

“What am I? What kind of question is that? I’m human, just like you.” So this thing was… another human..? It wasn’t a monster?

“Y-you’re not g...gonna eat me, are you? A-And you won’t tell the council about th-this… right?” The other boy looked at Darryl with the most disgusted and perplexed look Darryl thought he’d ever seen on a human. This one for sure was off medication for a while.

“Eat, you? What kind of stuff do these guys feed you..? I’m no cannibal. Also, council? Who the hell is ‘the council’..?” The dark boy stared into Darryl’s eyes, clearly seeing something Darryl didn’t.

“B-But.. What..?” Darryl was so confused now, and it instantly sparked a childish curiosity in him. He held up his strength to ask another question to the bush boy. “So, does that mean you came from another town..? This is town 14! What town number did you have??” The boy cocked his head.

“Town? I mean, I come from a city, Los Angeles. The city is awful, though, and the stress of my parents and school and everything else made me run off here.” Darryl seemed confused. He’d never felt, ‘stress’, in his entire life. He didn’t even know what that meant.

“What’s ‘stress’?” Darryl asked the darker boy. All he did was give another confused look.

“Uhhh, you don’t know what stress means? It’s when something gnaws at your gut and makes you feel worked up and stuff. It’s a.. Bad feeling.” Darryl was now very confused.

“So something is inside of you…? EATING YOU ALIVE??” The darker boy smacked his hand against his forehead. 

“No, it’s a metaphor. Nothing is eating me, dude. Chill out.” Darryl’s mind raced in a million places at once. A new boy from a.. City.. came into his town and asked for foo- OH MY GOSH HE ASKED FOR FOOD! Darryl shook his head rapidly, trying to clear his head.

“Oh my goodness I forgot! You asked for food!! Here, I didn’t eat the rest of my lunch today-” He pulled out a brown paper bag, the only contents remaining being an apple, a half-eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and some string cheese. “Here, you can take whatever is left in here. Sorry if it isn’t much.” 

“Oh, I… didn’t expect that to work… Thanks, uhhh, what’s your name?”

“Darryl. Darryl Noveschoch.”

“Thanks, Darryl. Also, your eyes are very pretty-” Before Darryl could ask of the other boy’s name, he disappeared into the forest once more, and Darryl took a couple of moments to stare off into the unknown abyss before realizing the sun had already set, and his parents were probably worried sick… again. Darryl stood up and began to take a slow walk home, analyzing everything that just happened, the risks and the rewards, but more importantly, if he will ever see this boy again. The boy who called his eyes… pretty. They were grey, no prettier than the rest of his town’s eyes. Maybe he did see something more than Darryl could, maybe that’s why his sweater was a different color… almost.


	2. Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //tw   
> panic attack
> 
> enjoy! :)

Everything was perfect in the wonderful land of town 14, perfect for everyone except the young boy Darryl Noveschoch. He sat in his bed, not moving an inch, his mind swirling and racing and dancing around from one place to another. He started seeing something… different. Darryl’s light grey eyes darted from one end of his room to the other, sweat pouring down his face and his fingers digging into the sides of his skull. There was a new color, and it was everywhere. Darryl noticed that his school pants weren’t really black, the day filled sky was not white, the colors of his walls weren’t necessarily grey, and his eyes… His eyes are what scared him the most, for they weren’t grey anymore. He could see the new color he saw on the bush boy’s sweater the day before. It was a faint ring around the outside of his irises. That color, oh god that color… It was everywhere, and it made Darryl sick to his stomach. Why was this color there? Where did it come from? Why was he only seeing it now? What if other people could see this too? Darryl crippled to the ground, his face pale and his whole body violently shaking. He needed his medication, fast. It would solve everything, right? Darryl quickly jolted up, the sudden movement being too much for his body to handle, and his knees buckled once more, toppling the boy to the ground. He was sobbing now, and he didn’t know why. It was a quiet sob, though, so his parents wouldn’t notice the commotion going up in their son’s room. Darryl took a couple moments to breathe, in, and out. In, and out. In, and-

Darryl’s father opened up the door to find his son crippled on the ground, tears racing down his face and staining the not so grey carpet. He picked up his son and sat him down on his bed, a stern but soft look on his face.

“Darryl? What is going on? You are 15 minutes late for breakfast. We were worried.” His tone was just as emotionless as everyone else in this imperfect town, which made Darryl want to scream even louder than he thought his lungs could muster.

“I….. I-” He choked on his own sweat and spit. Now that his vision was clearing, he could see his whole body shaking. He couldn’t tell his father what he saw, and as he looked into his father’s eyes, he noticed they were.. They were that color. Oh god they were that color, the exact color he saw on the bush boy’s sweater. Almost grey, but not quite. His breathing started to pace up again and his father watched as his son dipped down into the chaos of his mind once more. His father gave a sympathetic look, and rubbed his son’s back. Slowly but surely, Darryl started to calm down. His father, once assured Darryl would be ok if he left, eased downstairs to grab his medication, and gently poured 3 pills into his hand, before walking back upstairs and handing them to Darryl along with a glass of water. 

“Try this.” He calmly suggested. Darryl looked at the pills for a second, noticing there were 3 as well. What if he stopped seeing this color? What if he stopped feeling altogether? Darryl would do anything to have this new color taken away, but he was also so… intrigued by it, with a terrified curiosity. Darryl took 2 of the 3 pills in his father’s hand and gently placed them in his mouth, before swishing the meds down with the glass of water. He took a couple more swigs after that, trying to rehydrate himself. Darryl took a few more deep breaths, slowly looking at his father, who now put away the third pill. “I understand, Darryl.” He pushed back a strand of hair that was messily tossed over his face, covering one of his eyes. “But you have to realize that not taking the right amount of medication can cause things like this. Don’t you want to feel ok?” Darryl knew what he was talking about, but he refused to say anything. “I was just like you, growing up, you know. I felt extra, too. But feeling extra can have consequences, and I realized that. I started to get awful nightmares, and panic attacks everywhere I went. I wanted to run away from home.” Darryl looked at his father confusingly.

“Did you… Did you ever see… see things differently..?” Darryl stuttered. He always trusted his father more than his mother, since he grew up the same exact way Darryl did. Maybe he could trust his father with everything…

“See differently? What do you mean by that?” Oh god, Darryl was about to spill everything in front of his father. He leaned against him, pulling his legs to his chest.

“Promise you won’t t-tell anyone… ok?” His father nodded, holding up his pinky and smiling. Darryl, when he was a kid, loved to make promises to his father, so he made a little fun gesture out of it. His pinky would often grab his father’s pinky. It was a sign of trust between the two. Darryl loved his father more than anything in the world, how he laughed only when Darryl was around, picked him up and swung him around when they were home alone, who let Darryl sleep with him when he was young and could not sleep due to the monster under his bed, and who would always help Darryl with his homework. He loved his dad, so he decided to tell him, grabbing his father’s large pinky with his own, tinier pinky. Darryl’s father’s skin was course, as he was chosen in the city to work on the plumbing of the new houses being built, and fix the ones from the houses that were already built. They were cracked and sore, but Darryl loved them anyway. They were a big contrast of his own, soft and smooth, tiny hands, which looked untouched from hard labor. 

“So… I’ve been..” Darryl started, looking around the room to make sure no one else was around. “The sky isn’t white… and my pants aren’t black… and my eyes, your eyes, aren’t grey…” Darryl’s father looked at him sympathetically. 

“So, you’re starting to see… colors.” Darryl’s father rubbed his chin. He obviously didn’t understand what it was like to see another color, and Darryl suddenly felt a kick in his chest, telling him to spit out more.

“I-I also saw something yesterday… someone.” He spat out to his father, who’s eyes widened as he pulled his attention back onto his son. “He’s… He’s not from here, he comes from a… a city! A city named Los Angeles.. And his skin is dark, darker than anything I've ever seen before, and he asked me for food… He looked, sick. I wanted to bring him back home with me, but then he could have been reported to the council..” Darryl felt his father stare at him.

“Who is this… boy?” He asked, and Darryl only shook his head.

“I didn’t get his name, he ran off before I could ask… He called my eyes… pretty, though.” 

“Your eyes are very pretty, Darryl, and soon, you’ll be able to see that too.” Wait. Wait. He could-. Darryl was about to ask him something, until Darryl’s father hushed him.

“Could you try to get that boy’s name, today? I’d love to have him over for dinner. Your mother told me she was on the night shift, tonight.” Darryl just nodded. He could do that.

“Wait wait wait, so you can see color?”

“A color, Vurb, nothing much.” Vurb kept pushing, his voice getting louder and more excited every time he spoke. It wasn’t really excitement, though. It had no emotional ties behind it, like he was forced to say that. He didn’t tell Vurb about the boy he met in the bushes.

“Please tell me more! What does the world look like now?? Are you the only person that can see this?? Is the council gonna be mad??”

“The council’s not gonna be mad if they don’t find out I can see the world differently, and besides, everything is still practically grey and stuff, just the slightest hint of this new color. Also, no, no one else can see this, so shut your noisy mouth before anyone else finds out.” Vurb then realized how loud he was, nodding and standing straight up.

“Well then, uh, meet you in the library in 10, then? I have a bunch of paper in my bag and we can make paper airplanes! Oh, and then we can throw them at the librarian! Just like old times!” Vurb didn’t wait for a response, dashing past Darryl and heading for the public library. Vurb was always more on the mischievous side of things, shooting spitballs in class and making fart noises when the teacher sat down. It wasn’t true emotion, though, Darryl found out when he started to grow older. Vurb didn’t do it to appeal to others or himself, he didn’t do it because of instinct, he did it because that’s what the council gave him. The council gave him that personality, just so the world wouldn’t be as bland and boring as it was already. This new color, now, gave him a sense of happiness, and it made him feel like he was important and special. He didn’t tell Vurb that he was not coming to the library today, he was going straight to the woods to meet this boy again, if he was there. Darryl packed extra food, just in case the boy needed it, and would invite him to dinner. That would do, right? A nice meal, a shower, some fresh clothes, and… a home. If his mom wouldn’t tell. The bush boy could live with him, in the… not so perfect town 14.. He hoped the boy wouldn’t mind that the town wasn’t perfect.

Darryl had taken out his notebook once more, the same one from yesterday and pulled out his black ink pen. He began to sketch out what he thought the boy looked like from what Darryl could recall, dark skin, poofy hair that sprung out on all sides, a puffy sweater, the.. Almost grey sweater. As he was sketching, the bushes began to rustle, indicating something was back in the brush. Darryl continued to draw, though, as he wasn’t afraid of this other boy. He began to whistle out a tune, the same one he sang to the baby back at the nursery. The bushes began to shake more, and a gentle and warm hum played in harmony with Darryl’s whistling. A warm hand was brought down onto Darryl’s shoulder, causing him to make a small ‘peep’, sound, and stop whistling.

“Aw, why’d you stop, pretty boy?” The darker boy’s thumb made circles on Darryl’s shoulder. His voice was so warm and gooey, every word coming out as if it were freshly made caramel being melted and stretched around. Darryl didn’t notice his cheeks flare up a suspicious amount of red as he blurted out the first thing that came to mind: 

“R-Rule #3 of t-town 14! Never EVER under any circum-cumstances should you t-touch another member of the town! Unless if you are an assigned couple!” Darryl’s voice at the end of his sentence was so high pitched, he wasn’t sure if the darker boy could even hear him. He laughed, which caused Darryl’s cheeks to light up even more than what they already were. He couldn’t understand this… feeling? Darryl looked at the boy, who had brushed up his hair nicely and managed to get some of the stains out of his… Oh my gosh his sweater. His sweater was a deeper shade of that color, now. It didn’t look grey anymore, it looked… What was that color? What was it… what was it…

“Your cheeks are a little pink there, bud-” The boy brought a hand to his cheek, and Darryl began to sputter out nonsense at the slight action, repeating random words from the rule he just stated.

“God, you’re such a stickler to the rules. Chillax, it’s not like I’m gonna kill you or something.” Darryl’s eyes widened, and the darkened boy could tell that rules, or whatever, in this town were probably more important than what Darryl made it to be. Maybe that’s why Darryl thought he was a monster at first. He took his hands off of Darryl’s flushed cheeks quickly and apologized.

“It’s… It’s ok, uh.. I have some more food for you if you.. If you want, I guess..” Darryl shyly took the lunch out of his bag, and the boy began to snack on whatever contents were inside, not running away this time.

“What is… pink.?” Darryl suddenly asked the darker boy, he just looked confused.

“Pink…? It’s a color, man, how do you not know that?” Darryl gasped. Pink! Maybe that’s the color he’s seeing!

“Pink? Is that the same color of your sweater?” He hurriedly pointed to the boy’s sweater, hoping he could identify this new color.

“...What? No, dude, my sweater is blue, not pink.”

“Is blue also a color?”

“Uh… Yeah, it’s a color. Do they not teach you colors in school?” Then Darryl realized that this boy had no idea his town couldn’t see color, well, besides red. Blue… Blue was the color he could see now. It was a beautiful color now, becoming less and less grey and more vibrant the more he looked at it.

“Blue is a… a very beautiful color. It’s the first color I’ve ever seen.. Well, besides red..” Darryl instinctively reached for the boy’s sweater, grasping his sleeve and running his hands through it. The fabric was softer than anything Darryl’s ever felt before, so fuzzy and warm. He felt a slight pull and looked up to see the darker boy looking completely baffled by this man’s actions.

“Didn’t you just say you weren’t allowed to like, touch people in this town..?” The dark boy asked. Darryl squeaked, letting go of the boy’s sleeve and shoving his hands into his lap. 

“S-Sorry! Please don’t report me to the council I didn’t mean to and I just wanted to feel your sweater it was so soft and cozy and warm and I’ve been starting to see new colors and your sweater is this new color and-” the dark boy put a finger to Darryl’s lips as to hush him, sighing and standing straight up again. 

“Dude, I don’t even know your council, I’m not gonna do anything! I was just teasing you-” The dark boy let out another laugh, running a hand through his equally looking soft hair. Darryl wanted to touch it too, but the rules? The rules didn’t matter to this boy… What if the council still finds out, though? He’s been… touching people, touching people from the outside! Outside people! Darryl shook his head. The rules didn’t matter right now.

“Can I… Can I touch your hair?” Darryl blurted out. He didn’t even realize what he had just said until he heard a sputter of surprise come from the other boy.

“Woaaahh, breaking the rules? You’re a bad boy, aren’t ya~?” Darryl blushed, but quickly shook it off.

“I-I’m not bad! I hope I’m not bad... I mean… I guess I am bad…” Darryl looked down in shame, the darker boy didn’t realize how literal the pale kid took everything. “I-I broke the rules of my town coming and saying hi to you, and and… giving you food and touch-ching you and seeing color and not taking my m-meds and.-” Another finger was put to Darryl’s mouth. 

“I was just teasing.. Again. You need to stop taking everything so seriously? Ever heard of a joke before?” Darryl looked up with pitiful sorrow in his eyes. He shook his head. “Oh.. Well then, I’m gonna teach you jokes! Then you’ll be the funnest person around!” Was funnest a word? Darryl looked even more sorrowful. Did something he say make him feel worse?

“I wish.. This town sucks. Nobody has a personality here, and if I were to break from that, they’d put me on more meds until they wash away any personality I still have left in me. It sounds just as awful as… as death.” The darker boy sighed, he didn't like to see anyone in pain, especially this new boy with pretty eyes he just met. He wrapped his arms around Darryl, who stood still as a brick, not knowing what was going on. “What.. What are you doing?” He shyly asked. Is this what people did on the outside? 

“It’s a hug, idiot, it’s supposed to be like an, ‘I got you’, or an ‘I’m here for you’, kind of thing?” 

“Hey.. don’t call me an idiot! I am very smart, just so you know! I just… don’t know anything about the outside..” Darryl slowly felt his arms wrap around the boy’s neck, and Darryl hoped by god he was doing this.. Hugging, thing right. He gently leaned into the boy, placing his head in between his shoulder and his neck, calming down significantly.

The boys sat there like that for a solid couple of minutes before the darker boy let go. Darryl turned around as the sun had begun to disappear over the horizon, and Darryl watched as the bright blue sky grew darker and darker. He still couldn’t see the other colors in between the now red sky lining the ground and darkening blue sky, but it already looked so much more pretty than before. Darryl smiled watching the.. What was that?

“The sunset looks nice tonight, don’t you think?” A sunset. That’s a pretty name for the sun disappearing for the night.

“It looks, very pretty. I can’t see all of the colors yet, but it already looks more beautiful than before..” The darker boy gently draped his arm over Darryl’s shoulder, and Darryl subconsciously leaned back into the boy, who then let both of his arms rest on Darryl’s shoulders. 

“Oh, well, I promise once you can see all of the colors, it will look a lot cooler.” Darryl smiled. He felt very.. Safe in this boy’s arms. He was warm and soft and very comfortable. Maybe touching was a good thing. Why did the council take touching away? This was great. Darryl had almost forgotten why he was here in the first place.

“Oh, uh, I never managed to get your name, by the way. I-If that’s ok, can I have it?”

“Oh, and lemme guess, you want my number too?” The dark boy giggled, in which Darryl did not understand. “Wait, don’t tell me you guys don’t have phones around here..” Darryl just gave him a complexed stare, which looked absolutely gorgeous in the darker boy’s view.

“...Phone? Number? I mean.. I was number 24 in my year’s birthing, if that’s what you want?” The dark boy’s eyes furrowed. He now understood why he didn’t have a phone. This whole town was mysteriously in an isolated location, set off from the rest of the world. What did the government want with these people, what were they trying to do? No wonder why cities were getting less and less populated. The darker boy pushed those thoughts to the side, the crushing feeling of doom for the internet and free people. He now understood what this place was, after hours of confusion with a skinny white boy. One of those ‘Utopian towns’’, the ads on tv always talked about. He was probably born here, raised in ignorance. At least it was more stable than the cities, which would have fallen into complete anarchy if the government, once in a while, stepped in to help the poor citizens.

“Nothing.. You probably wouldn’t understand, anyways.” Darryl could see that now it was the darker boy’s turn to be sad, in which Darryl turned around in the darker boy’s grasp and hugged him. A sign of, ‘I’m here for you.’ 

“It’s ok, I know I don’t know much about the outside, and maybe everything on the outside isn’t perfect, either. But that’s ok, because I’m here! You could stay with me for a bit if you would like. I’m sure my family would love you!” The darker boy gladly returned the hug. Darryl stared into the blue sweater, mesmerized by the color, not even hearing the darker boy’s response.

“Darryl? Are you listening?” Darryl sat up, he was too busy looking at this, blue color, to notice.

“Oh! Sorry! Could you repeat that?” Darry rubbed a hand on the back of his neck nervously, breaking the hug with the darker boy.

“I said sure, I’d love to stay for a bit with your family-” Darryl squealed in excitement almost immediately after hearing that. Holding his hands to his mouth to cover the dorky smile he had underneath. “You sure do like my sweater, don’t you?” The darker boy then asked, and Darryl settled down enough to tell him.

“Well, I mean.. I guess? It’s so soft and comfortable, and it’s the first color I’ve ever seen besides red, it’s so… pretty.” The other boy smiled as Darryl went back to studying the blue color. It was so beautiful in every way, shape, and form, just like the boy that was in front of him. He was the one who first showed him the color, the magnificent new color. It was like candy to his eyes, complimenting the gooey caramel like voice the boy shared with it. It was a perfect, sweet mix of everything, Darryl wished he could stare forever at this perfect boy. Darryl then smiled and pursed his lips slightly, speaking in a soft, but soothing voice for only the blue boy to hear,

“The first color I see, is you, and it's beautiful...”


End file.
